Environmental Science and Policy Major, B.A.

Program Director: Eric Kindahl

Students in this program complete a common core of courses in environmental studies, the natural sciences, the social sciences and mathematics. These courses also fulfill the Hood College Core Curriculum requirements for a foundations course in mathematics/computation; for the scientific thought courses in the Methods of Inquiry section; and for a course in social and behavioral analysis in the Methods of Inquiry section.

Majors concentrate in one of four fields: coastal and watershed studies, environmental biology, environmental chemistry or environmental policy. Students draw on this training in an interdisciplinary problem-solving senior seminar. In addition, majors are guided toward internships and other work experiences that complement their academic work. Recent internship sites have included the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Park Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

This hands-on major is designed to take advantage of Hood’s proximity to terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats, to government research facilities and to federal policy-making agencies in Washington, D.C. Students in the ENSP program are encouraged to take part in Hood College’s Coastal Studies Semester, directed by Drew Ferrier.

Students should consult their advisers for elective courses that may strengthen the major and concentration. In addition to the courses listed in the basic curriculum and in the environmental biology, chemistry and policy concentrations, some courses are available through the environmental biology program of the Graduate School. These courses may be taken by environmental science majors who meet the qualifications set for the individual courses.

Our Mission

Through an integration of the liberal arts and the professions, Hood College provides an education that empowers students to use their hearts, minds and hands to meet personal, professional and global challenges and to lead purposeful lives of responsibility, leadership, service and civic engagement.